Training for what we hope never happens

Missing 5-Year-Old Boy Is Tala the Search and Rescue Dog’s First Find

A 5-year-old New Jersey boy who was separated from his family during a hiking trip in Acton, Maine, is now safe thanks to a dog named Tala and and his handler, who helped locate him.

York County Officers told WCSH News, who reported the story, that Christopher Grecco was found about a half a mile from where he was last seen in a wooded area. He had been missing since Sunday evening.

“Once the relatives realized he was missing they searched for several hours with no results and then called the York County Sheriff’s Office around 8:00pm to report the boy lost in the woods,” said a post on the Maine Search and Rescue Dog (MESARD) Facebook page. “Maine Game Wardens, along with York county deputies, Maine State police, Acton fire department and York County EMA responded to begin searching.”

Canine teams from the Maine warden service, a bloodhound team from New Hampshire, and Maine Search and Rescue Dogs (MESARD) volunteer K9 team also responded to the call, the post said, and MESARD handler Dorothy Smail and her dog Tala would be the ones to locate Grecco.

He was found around 2:20 a.m. Monday morning, WCSH News reported.

“MESARD handler Dorothy Smail and her K9 Tala, located the boy in their search area, about approximately ½ mile from where he was last seen in the woods,” the Facebook post said. “He was then brought back to his relatives and taken to a local hospital to be checked out.”

Smail told WCSH News that this was Tala’s first find and that she was very proud of the dog.